Interface
by writerfan2013
Summary: "It was ambitious, but for his own safety somebody had to do it, and with any luck he need never find out. Mattie squinted at her screen, and prepared to hack Leo Elster." A plan to restore Fred goes horribly wrong, but could it change things for Mattie and Leo? Follows A Little Light and Poor Design, or can be read alone. Leo x Mattie
1. Chapter 1

"I want to come with you to fix Fred," Mattie typed. The screen went dark. It was the only light in her cramped student room and suddenly Mattie was surrounded by shadow. She took a sip of Coke and flicked on her desk lamp.

"No way," comes back Leo's message. "Too dangerous."

"I can help! What if something goes wrong?" She put down the Coke can too hard and it splashed sticky brown liquid over the desk. Cursing, she fumbled for tissues and typed one handed as she mopped up the spill. "You know, like Hobb finding you? Like men with guns taking Fred away, killing you on the spot and ripping out your innards? Just off the top of my head."

"Then it will just be my life in danger and not yours. This is not your problem. Fred is my brother."

Oh God, his infuriating sainthood. She narrowed her eyes.

Three hundred miles away in Cumbria, Leo swiped through screens of code on a tablet while he waited for Mattie's response on his laptop. He slurped Red Bull and calculated how late he could reasonably go to bed, given he had to be up for work in the morning.

The pause went on for a while. Leo pictured Mattie resting her fingers on the scratch pad of her laptop , controlling her fury. Then:

"You are my friend," she typed, and he could almost hear the gritted teeth. "I want to help. Would you not want to help if it was Sophie I was rushing off to rescue?"

Leo closed his eyes. Mattie's sweet little sister. If she were hurt or lost-? But she wasn't. It was just an example designed to tug his heartstrings. What was left of them. Leo gulped more Red Bull, then stuck one hand into his kit bag and withdrew it holding his phone. He dialled her number while the question about Sophie still blinked on the screen. "Mattie."

"Hey." Her voice, a little breathless..

"Hey." Their shared call sign. "Please," said Leo. "Just help me by staying behind and not giving me another factor to worry about."

As always, the sound of his voice was an effective weapon against her stubbornness. "Ok," said Mattie. "But I want to do more to help."

Leo paused. He could hear her breathing, and music in the background. She was in her student room then. "Backups," said Leo. "In case anything happens. You can be on standby to do a remote online backup of Mia or Max."

"I don't know how to force a start," she said, and he knew her sharp mind was already whirring.

"I'll show you. I've only just been working on it myself. Trying to rip data from ordinary synths without them knowing."

"Ok," she said. "Show me."

"Not now," he said. "Better get off the line."

"Bye," she said quickly before he could press End.

"Bye," he said, and thumbed the red button.

He lay the phone beside the keyboard. Took a breath and typed. "Hot backups are slippery beasts because the thing you're backing up is a moving target. It's nigh on impossible to get a perfect copy."

"Says you," she typed back. "I've got plenty of experience with the impossible."

He smirked at the screen. "Is that a dig?"

"Only completely."

"You're going to need a lot of memory," he said. "And a protected power supply."

"Hey," she messaged. "You're not the only actual genius around here."

"I know."

"Blimey."

"Sending instructions now. And thanks."

"NP."


	2. Chapter 2

Their friendship was back on track. Mattie was not quite as available as she had been in the first months that Leo knew her, but she was at Uni now, and her studies were demanding.

"It is likely that she is out socialising," said Max one evening when Leo was waiting, chafing, for a response from Mattie. Max was cradling a tablet in his arm, a complex puzzle on the screen. Max's fingers trailed over the pieces, seemingly idly, but his eyes were bright.

Leo peeked out of the curtained window. Their cottage was far from the road, but he could not help the habit of watching for danger. "Yeah. Maybe. She never mentioned anything."

"Why would she? Personal details are kept to a minimum in your conversations."

"... Yeah."

They had not exactly followed the safety guidelines over the past year. Mattie often talked about student life, the various clubs she was involved in - bowling, who knew- and if she was going to be offline for any period she would let him know in advance.

Of course that was before they became Friends. Or to give it its full title, Just Friends.

"She will be in touch, Leo. Don't worry. I've written a new game. Do you want to try it?" Max offered the tablet.

Leo sighed. "Yeah." He gave his little brother a smile. "I can beat anything you make."

Max smiled back. "Don't be so sure."

Leo rang Mattie early next morning, before his shift as a cash-in-hand delivery driver began. He sat in the cab of the van with the heater on and watched the windscreen defrosting. "Hey," he said as Mattie picked up. "It's me."

"Uh, right. Hey. Now's not a good time."

"I'm just checking-"

He was cut off by a rustling sound and then noises of a scuffle. His heart pounded. "Mattie?"

Then her voice, "Give that back!"

A man's laughter. Teasing and triumphant. More rustling.

Then Mattie again, breathless. "Sorry. Look, I'll message you in a bit OK." And she put the phone down.

Leo checked the time. Six forty am. About two hours before Mattie could usually be found out of bed. But it seemed she was still in bed.

Right.

A synth can speculate, and a conscious synth can speculate in great detail using all available data. But a human has visual imagination, and the ability to project scenarios even when there is insufficient data to do do.

Burdened with both capabilities, Leo fixed his mind on work, and drove away to his first delivery battling the vision of Mattie wrestling for possession of her phone with some naked boyfriend.

He did not by any measure succeed. And he knew that if he was disturbed by what he imagined, it was entirely his own fault.


	3. Chapter 3

Mattie hadn't seen Leo in six months. Six months! It seemed only an eye blink since she first met him a cafe, all cloak and dagger, questions about Mia. Then the adventure, freeing the synths. Finally their attempted restore of Fred, and eventual defeat. Mattie had helped with the code to protect Fred when he woke up, to protect all of them. But it had not succeeded. Fred immediately tried to send location data to Hobb, the government man who still wanted their machine consciousness secrets. Leo had to switch Fred off.

Now Leo kept Fred on a low charge, in a series of hidden locations, moving him often, checking his brain was still ticking over, but never waking him up for fear of bringing Hobb right to him, right to all of them.

Mattie was still working on that code with Leo. They were, secretly, colleagues. He was as brilliant as ever: leaps of genius, but mostly hours and hours of graft, trial and error. And he worked too, some driving job, to provide food and power, pay the rent. She admired him more than she could say.

They talked often. It was a little harder, over the summer holidays, because Mattie worked shifts in a supermarket, but they kept in touch. Mostly they messaged. There was a bit of banter, but no flirting. The way he wanted it, after her terminally stupid move on him the last time they met. God, how crass she had been. Throwing herself at him like some drunk school girl when he was in the middle of a project. No wonder he ran a mile.

And now she never saw him. Everything else seemed like a consolation prize. Other people, Leo's own words on the screen, his gruff voice down the phone, it was not real contact..

All humans need contact. But Leo Elster, however much she missed him, was not entirely human.


	4. Chapter 4

"Second year. Blimey.. Time flies." Leo was two hundred miles away but his dry tone was as clear in his words on the screen as if he sat beside Mattie at her desk. "Soon you'll be choosing your doctorate."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She fired a series of rude emojis at him.

Leo sent just one back but it was outrageously rude.

"Oi!"

"Sorry."

"No you're not. -You're in a good mood."

"I've thought of another way to restore Fred."

"Omg. What?"

"Restore him to a non conscious synth. Wait. I'll call, it's quicker."

She grabbed up her phone when it rang. Leo's shy mumble in her ear. "We'll transfer Fred's consciousness to a dummy synth."

She thought about it. "At a different location? We'd be working remotely nowhere near?"

"Of course."

"Ok. It could work."

"We wake up the ordinary synth, it gives out its, totally useless, location but we are busy removing the code and taking another online backup. Then the bad guys show up but all they've got is another ordinary synth and no connection to us."

It was genius. Of course it was. "How do we get the code back on to Fred?"

"That's the tricky part. How to apply the modded code without waking him up."

"We could trick him into sharing," Mattie said.

"What?"

Her brain races. "Load the ordinary code into Fred's head. Wake him up. He thinks he's a normal synth and tries to share with the first synth he meets. That can be one of you. You share, but you force download of his true code, modded. Reboot him, wake him up again."

She waited. Leo was breathing quickly. "That's brilliant," he said.

Her face broke into a smile. "It's what I do," she said.

"Ha. Yeah. But I've got a better idea."

"Wow, two whole minutes before you try to trump me." Their rivalry was always on. "Go on then."

"Backup Fred's code to me."

"You can't mod yourself, Leo."

"No. But you can."


	5. Chapter 5

The argument grew into shouting and brought in Mia and Max. The three of them sat around the cottage kitchen table, Mattie on speakerphone on Leo's mobile.

Mia held Leo's hand. "It's much too dangerous. I won't lose you again."

"She's right," said Max.

"Thank you," said Mattie. "The original plan is absolutely fine."

"It's the only way," said Leo.

Mattie lost the plot. "Oh my god. What is it with you and the tunnel vision? It's not the only way, it is one way and there are alternatives."

"This will be faster."

"It will be riskier," said Mattie. "Since when have you been a gambler?"

"It's my risk to take."

"No it's not." She banged her desk in Southampton so hard it made the phone jump on the kitchen table in Cumbria. "There are people who love you. You've got to think about them."

"I haven't got to do anything on your say-so as a matter of fact," Leo hissed.

"So why did you even ask my opinion?"

"Leo," said Max. "Let's think this through."

At the same moment Mia said, "Leo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Mattie could not guess what was passing between the three of them. She pictured Mia's hand on Leo's arm, her anxious face pleading with him to be safe. "Run the code to a regular synth," said Mattie. "If you run it through yourself, apart from anything else, Fred's locator will lead Hobb straight to you."

"Mattie is right," said Mia.

"Leo," said Max.

Leo made a noise of frustrated defeat. "All right. Fine. You win. We'll do it Mattie's way." But he did not sound happy about it.

Mattie put the phone down. She messaged Leo. "Hey. Sorry that got a bit Jeremy Kyle. But you know I'm right. This is safer for you, for everyone."

No reply.

Hmmn.

Mattie bit her lip and waited, her hands hovering over the keyboard. The code was ready, but did she dare execute it?

She leaned back in her chair. This required a stiff drink, but coding while drunk was inviting disaster. She swilled Red Bull round her mouth, imagining the caffeine fizzling through her veins. Sleep was for wimps, and so on.

The code hummed on the screen. This was a bit of a violation. Like identity theft, in the very literal sense. But it was for a good reason.

Yeah. That what every criminal says. I'm innocent, I only did it to help people...

Her phone rang. She jumped guiltily.

"It's me."

"Oh. Hey."

"Hey."

"I've got the synth. Max is upgrading it tonight. We can go down to London and get Fred this weekend."

"Great." That was three days away.

"You can come with us if you like."

She blinked. "I thought you didn't want me involved." An hour of yelling certainly suggested it, even if he had conceded defeat in the end.

Leo made an embarrassed grunt. "Yeah. Sorry about- that. -I want your help with this," he said. "In case anything goes wrong."

"OK," she said.

Leo paused. "I'd like you to be there, Mattie. You're the only one who would know how to fix it if something goes wrong."

Her heart sounded loud in her ears. "Then I'll be there," she said. "Of course I will."

His breath of relief, soft in her ear. "Thanks. Thanks for everything," he said. "Mattie."

That was weird. "You ok?" she said.

"Yeah. Just." No other words came.

"I'll see you there," she said, and added, because his strange thank-you seemed to call for it, "Leo."

She sat afterwards, the silent phone in her hand, and thought about her idea. If he found out he would be livid. He would probably never forgive her.

But if she didn't do it- if anything went wrong-

"Fuck it," said Mattie out loud, and pressed Execute. The code flew through the ether to Leo's laptop. She knew he might read it, but she strongly suspected he would skip that part and simply mount it direct to his circuits. And when he did, she could start her plan.

It was ambitious, but somebody had to do it, and with any luck he need never find out. Mattie squinted at her screen, and prepared to hack Leo Elster.


	6. Chapter 6

Mattie sipped instant decaff and pondered the code on the screen. It was lunchtime, the day of the attempt to restore Fred. Mattie was not hungry. She dialled Leo's number.

It rang, went to voicemail. No greeting. "Hey. It's me. I need to talk to you, I think I've found a problem."

She clicked off, frowned at the phone. Dialled Max. "Hi."

"Hello, Mattie."

"This plan to get Fred's code and download it to an ordinary synth."

"Yes."

"I can't work out how to start the remote download of Fred's code." Mattie scrolled through the program Leo had sent. "This code Leo wrote, it assumes there is a physical connection."

"I see."

"Where's Leo?"

"He's out fetching extra memory to store the backup. Then we well be completely ready for tonight."

"Max. Can I access you remotely?"

"No. You and Leo developed code that prevented it. We tested it in the pub called the New Boot. Don't you remember?"

"I remember the code. But I never saw it applied except to Mia."

"Leo updated me once we arrived home."

"I see. Leo took a backup of Mia, didn't he?"

"And me. Now he can always get us back if we get lost or damaged." She could hear Max's fond smile in his voice.

"Did he update his own code as well?"

A pause. "I didn't see him do it."

"I bet he hasn't," said Mattie.

"I will ask him."

"No, don't. It's his business, his own stupid business."

"Are you and Leo still friends, Mattie? Sometime you say hurtful things to each other."

"We're still friends," she said.

"We'll see you soon, Mattie. We miss you."

"You too."

Mattie threw the phone on the bed.

Arrogant idiot. Leo was no way getting more memory. He was en route to London right now, to fix Fred by himself. He'd spotted the same issues in the code as Mattie, that although their code had not stopped Fred's locator message being sent, it would prevent remote online access. Leo had worked that out, just the same as she had, and knowing that this made it dangerous, he'd decided to go on his own rather than risk Hobb finding the others.

It was extremely selfless, and bloody typical.

She grabbed her car keys. The summer job had at least gained her an ancient Fiesta, which meant she was mobile.

Mattie set her jaw. London, where Fred was, would take about two hours to reach. Leo and the others were about the same time away, from the north. Leo wasn't expecting her to be in London for another five hours at least. Which was why she was leaving right now.


	7. Chapter 7

She drove, the Fiesta's one-litre engine screaming all the way, straight to Fred's location. It was a damp October day, the air heavy with suspended droplets, and every tree dripped. Mattie stuck the car in the car park, and saw Leo's van, already here. The overcast day already seemed dark, so Mattie pulled her torch from the glove compartment.

The destination was a self storage centre, a lonely warehouse where cages and shipping containers stacked up along bleak corridors, full of the things that people couldn't or wouldn't have in their homes.

Mattie slung her laptop bag over her back, and took a key out of her pocket. She'd rented a small unit before she left, and collected the key on the way here. The key got her inside, and then all she had to do was find Fred, and Leo.

She strode along the concrete corridors, white overhead lights flashing on as she approached, darkness following behind, as she worked methodically through the building. If things had gone wrong, Hobb might already be here. Mattie gripped the heavy MagLite from her car and tried to swallow her fear.

She found the unit on the second floor, where smaller cages and cobwebbed ceilings showed that this was the cheap end of the self-storage market. She hesitated by the lift, nerving herself to step into the narrow corridor between cages heaped with unknown draped objects. Most units were dark. But one at the far end of this corridor glowed with a dim blue light. Screen light.

She had her phone in her hand as she paced towards the open cage door. The only noise was the sound of her uncertain footsteps, and the buzz of fluorescent ceiling lights. Her thumb was on Mia's number.

Too slowly, too quickly, she reached the last cage.

She saw wooden tea chests, a tangle of electrical cables, and the blanket they had wrapped around Fred, months before.

Fred was gone. But a body lay on the concrete floor.

Mattie pressed the Call button by reflex and ran inside. "Leo! Oh god." She dropped the phone onto an upturned chest.

Leo was lying on his left side in the dust. His legs were entwined with a mess of cables, and his eyes were wide open. But he was pale, and cold, and still.


	8. Chapter 8

"No."

It was the only word Mattie had left. She had forgotten how to say anything else. "No, no, no..."

The phone was chirping, forlorn on the floor, as Mia answered, calling Mattie's name.

Mattie landed on her knees beside Leo, pulled open his shirt collar, thrust three fingers against his neck.

He was cold, but as she pressed harder, seeking a pulse, Leo's eyes flickered. And there came his heartbeat, precious under her hand.

She rolled him over, exposing his data port. "Christ." His shirt and skin were smeared with blood. The power cable lay three feet away. The data cable was nowhere.

Mattie cleaned the power connector with a corner of Leo's shirt, and looked around for a wall socket. "You stupid fool."

Where was Fred? What had happened here? She brushed Leo's tangled black hair off his forehead and revealed a swollen red lump above his right eyebrow, split. So Hobbs, or his people, had been here. Violence was their calling card.

"The code was broken," she told his unconscious face. "There wasn't enough time to upload the new code to Fred, trick him into sharing, before Hobb got here."

She opened her laptop and busied herself connecting him so she could see what the damage might be. "They could have taken you. Killed you, you stupid, stupid, idiot."

Tears ran down her cheeks. She dragged a power surge protector from her rucksack, plugged it into Leo and then the wall. "If you're dead it will break Mia's heart. What is wrong with you? We talked about this for fuck's sake."

Power was running into him but he did not respond. His body began to shiver and twitch. Physical shock. She abandoned the laptop and snatched up the blanket which had once covered Fred. When she had covered Leo's legs, she lifted his shoulders and lay him awkwardly over her lap. Perhaps some body heat would transfer.

She chafed his hands between both of hers. "If you don't wake up I'm going to officially revoke your genius badge." She rubbed his thin, cold fingers. "Come on Leo. You're my friend." A hard truth struck her and her voice cracked. "My best friend."

He was taking on power. With any luck a full charge would trigger a reboot. If not-

Mattie bent her head over his and closed her eyes. "Come on," she said. "We've been here before. Do you remember? Max brought you back, and you showed me your memories. It made me cry." His hair smelled of rain and dust. "You didn't trust me to start with, but then you did. Why couldn't you trust me today? You stupid, stupid-" Before she could think of a better insult, a sob shook her body and escaped her mouth in a stifled yelp. Then another, and another, and then she was half-smothering him, heaving out heartbreak and guilt even though it was all his fault.

"Hey."

She did not hear him the first time.

"Hey. Let go of me."

She started. Leo was struggling in her arms. The laptop showed a half charge. Not enough for him to get up and walk. But enough for consciousness.

Leo said, "The synth... They took him. Or he chased them. I don't know."

The synth. "What happened to your head?" If Hobb had been here, he would have grabbed Leo as well as Fred.

"Some goons walloped me. I played dead."

"Well thank god for goons. They must have not known who you were."

Her words triggered terror in his eyes. "Who I am..." He sat up fully and his eyes searched her face. He saw the laptop, the wires, and traced them back to his own body. "What the fuck-?"

He was always pale, from a lifetime of hiding, but now his face took on a sick yellow hue. "What's going on? What have you done to me?" He shook off her hand as she moved to reassure him, and instead gripped her wrist, capturing it with all his wiry strength. "Who the hell are you?"


	9. Chapter 9

Synths cannot cry, but Mattie thought Mia was going to. She had never seen her so distressed. Mia and Max had arrived at the storage unit five minutes after Mattie, and found Mattie, Leo and the disaster.

"Get off me," said Leo.

Mia recoiled in horror.

"He doesn't know you," said Mattie, pulling Mia away. "He doesn't know any of us."

"Leo!" Mia reached for Max's hand. Max looked from Leo to Mattie, his eyes huge.

"Synths," said Leo. But he frowned at their horrified expressions, the way they clung to Mattie for comfort.

"We are your brother and sister," said Max. "Your family."

"He doesn't remember," said Mattie.

"Leo," said Mia again. Mattie was afraid Mia was glitching, but then Mia turned and held Mattie's arm with a frightening strength. Her gaze bored into Mattie's. "Where is Leo? _Where is my son_?"

Mattie did not resist. Max pried Mia's fingers from Mattie, and held Mia in his arm. "Leo's gone," Mattie said. The tears of that realisation were still on her cheeks. "The transfer back to Fred didn't work. It drained Leo of... himself."

"If he's gone," Mia said, but did not complete the sentence.

"-Then we will still love him," said Max. He spoke to Leo in his gentle voice. "We will still take care of you." Leo flinched back, and got to his feet. He braced himself against a tea chest. His legs were shaking.

Mattie looked around at the three of them and could not think of a plan.

"Explain," said Leo with some of his old steel. "Now."

"Not here," said Mattie. "Hobb's men were here. When they tell Hobb they left behind a man who looks like Leo Elster, he'll send them back."

"Come with us," said Max to Leo.

"No way," said Leo. "Not till I know what going on."

"Where can we charge him?" Mattie asked Mia. "Can you search for the nearest power source where we won't be found?"

"Already searching. I can direct us."

"Ok. Max, bring him. I'll plug him into his van."

"I said no," said Leo. He held his hands up to ward off Max. He must have known that would be impossible, but still he stood there, afraid but fighting.

"Ok," said Mattie. She touched Max's arm and he stepped aside. Mattie came close to Leo and looked up into his face. "Here's the summary. You're Leo Elster. You're a genius. Your dad created synths who could love, synths to take care of you. And they have. But now something's gone wrong. You've joined yourself up to some dangerous code and it's wiped your memory."

Leo began to question, to protest. She stared him down until he shut up. "Your dad built part of you too," she said. "You have digital memories just like a synth. You've lived in hiding with these synths, these _people_ , most of your life. And now they're here to help you, to fix you, so shut the fuck up and come with us."

Leo gazed down at her. His eyes were hard. But his mouth trembled.

"It's true," Mattie said. "All of it. I promise you."

"Right. They're my family." It was a sneer. He wet his lips, summoned more bravado. "So who are you?" he asked.

She paused before replying. Then she said, "Max. Catch him." Looking up at Leo she said, "I'm just a human you used to trust," and pulled the power.


	10. Chapter 10

"This is my fault," said Max. "I should have made him, I should have sat and watched him-"

"It's not your fault," said Mia. "Leo is stubborn. He always has been. None of us could have stopped him."

They were in Leo's van, Max driving, Mia beside him directing. Mattie was in the back, crouched on the slatted wooden floor with an unconscious Leo, monitoring power. She had to keep him on charge, but if he woke up he'd freak again.

"Now he's gone," said Max.

"No," said Mattie. The power was sufficient for what she needed. She hoped. No, she was sure. "He's not gone," she said, raising her voice over the rattle of the engine. "I'm restoring him now."

Mia's head swivelled to look at her.

"I backed him up," Mattie said. "Last week."

"How," said Max.

Mia said, "How did you get him to agree to that?"

"I didn't," said Mattie. "I hacked him."

Max said, "That's why you were asking me if he had downloaded his own code when he did ours."

Mattie nodded. "When you told me he hadn't, I knew it was a safe bet he also hadn't applied the patch we made to stop you all being accessed remotely. And sure enough I was right."

"You did a hot backup," Max said. "Of Leo."

"Yup," said Mattie. "I used his own code."

Leo gasped, and opened his eyes.

"Ssh," Mattie said, and stroked his head. She turned down the power a little. "I'm fixing it, I'm fixing it now..." His hand groped on the floor. She took it in her own, and with her other hand began the upload of code to his brain. His backup occupied almost the whole of her laptop.

She watched the upload. All his memories, everything which made him who he was, flowing down a cable into his mind. He took a big breath, his eyes still shut, and then began breathing normally, lightly, like a man asleep.

* * *

The van was dark. Only the computers gave any light. Mattie was more than used to that. She checked through her work again. Every log indicated that the backup had been restored and now resided correctly in Leo's mind.

They were now parked in a south London surburb, near one of the synths' original rendezvous points. Max and Mia had gone to look for Fred. Leo had said Fred had been taken, or chased Hobb's men. If it was the second thing there was a chance Fred was free, and looking for them too.

Mattie rubbed her eyes. In theory her plan had worked. It was time to test that theory.

She did a minor power cycle and right on cue, Leo woke up.

This time he did not move straight away. He opened his eyes sleepily and looked at her. Then he sat up, slowly, and bent to see the cable leading into his torso. He swallowed. "Can I take it out-? What is it, what it is for? Do I need power to live?"

Mattie said, "You need power and food. I've tried to bring your memories back. Do you know who you are?"

He blinked. "I'm Leo Elster," he said.

"Yes! Thank fuck for that."

He screwed up his face. "But... I'm Leo Elster." He clutched at Mattie's hand. "That's all I know. I don't - know. Anything." His breathing began to come in gasps.

On the screen Mattie s feedback logs quaked. She wrapped her fingers around his. "It's all right," she said. "Just give it time."

Leo juddered, closed his eyes. His fingers gripped hers hard. "Right." He looked again at the wire. "Take it out "he said. "It's vile."

"Ok, ok. Stay still." She tried not to think what his words meant. She unclipped the power and data from Leo's port, and gently pulled his clothes back down. "Gone," she said, and closed her laptop to prove it, like showing a dog your empty hand when the treats have run out.

His grip on her shook. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you." His eyes sought hers. "What's your name?"

"Mattie," she said.

"Is this some kind of experiment? You were talking about synths, before. Conscious synths. But that's not possible, not for another ten, twenty years. Please." He added his other hand over hers. "Tell me what's going on."


	11. Chapter 11

" _We've found Fred. But he thinks Hobb's men have found you."_

Leo caught up the phone. "Where are they?"

"On their way," said Mia. "You need to move."

"Ok," said Mattie, "I'll drive -" but Leo cut her off.

"We can't drive," he said. "They'll track us too easily. We need to get out on foot."

"I think we all need to lie low for a while," Mia said. "You find somewhere secure, we'll do the same, regroup later."

"Where will you go?" Mattie asked.

"Where Leo and I used to sleep," Max said.

"Ok," said Mattie.

"You have restored his memories?" Mia said.

"More or less," said Mattie.

"There's no time," said Max. "Go now. We'll talk later."

Mattie grabbed her rucksack and jumped down from the van. Leo followed more slowly. It was strange to see him look around, as if he had never been in this car park before. As if he had not driven there himself that afternoon. "Where to," said Mattie.

Leo looked around. "I don't know. No memory, remember? This way." He started down an unlit alley which led between warehouses. It was narrow and the end of it was invisible from here. Mattie would never have dared enter it alone. "You're fearless," she said.

"No," said Leo. "It's just that if we have to, it's easier to hide in the dark."

They hurried along, Mattie jogging to keep up with Leo's longer strides. "We've got to get inside somewhere," she said. "A hotel, lock the door."

"No. CCTV. They can pick us up within minutes if we enter a main road."

"You haven't forgotten everything," Mattie said.

"I have," he said. His brows drew down into a dark frown. Then he shook it off. "But I'm looking around and this is the only exit which doesn't have a camera. If these people are who you say, then it makes sense that they would have control of surveillance."

"Oh."

"It's all going on up here," he said, tapping his head, and grinned.

Mattie drew a sharp breath. "You sound like you used to," she said.

He glanced sideways at her. "So if we were such pals, why does that make you sad?"

Mattie shook her head. The alley angled right, then left, and at its end she saw streetlights, a main road.

"Tell me," said Leo.

She sighed. "I miss him. -You."

"This arrogant bastard who went maverick on you and put everyone in danger? Yeah, I can see how you'd be pining for that."

It was painful but she smiled. "You're funny," she said. "Just like him."

"I guess a sense of humour isn't something remembered." They reached the end of the alley. With an outstretched hand, Leo stopped Mattie entering the brightly lit road. He scanned right and left, his eyes flickering.

"There's so much we don't know about memory," Mattie said.

"Now you tell me."

Despite herself she laughed.

"Come on," said Leo. He pointed. Large houses loomed on the near side of the road, but opposite was a long, low wall, and a hedge behind a spike-topped railing. "Cross over here and then into that park. They can't have CCTV covering all of that."

"There's no power there," she said. "If you lose charge-"

He glanced at her curiously. She saw emotions ebb and flow in his face - doubt, and sadness, and wonder. "I'm all right," said Leo.


	12. Chapter 12

The park was a cemetery. Not the gothic statues-and-ivy kind, but a bleak modern place with row upon row of oblong headstones, some with a little garden of green glass chippings before them, others surrounded only by mown grass.

"There's nowhere here," Leo said. "No cover."

"The chapel," said Mattie. "Of rest, whatever you call it." She pointed to a small, steep-gabled building at the centre of the vast space.

"It'll be too well locked," Leo said. "Aha. But that won't be."

He led the way to a flat-roofed brick building which was screened by leylandii.

"If that's the loos you can forget it," said Mattie.

Leo tried the door handle. "Locked and padlocked." He made a circuit of the building, looking up. "Here we go."

"How did you know that," Mattie asked after they had crawled in through an unlocked skylight. They didn't dare switch on a light, so were exploring by the light of Mattie's phone.

Leo shrugged. "There's always a weak point in any security system."

She sighed.

"Am I quoting him again? Not trying to."

She bit her lip. Leo/not Leo was giving her a headache. Or that might just have been guilt, the misery of having lost him. She switched on her phone and shone it around the room.

The building held gardening equipment, plus a small rest area with a couple of ripped leatherette armchairs, a sink and kettle. "Nice work if you can get it," said Leo. He sank down in the nearest chair. "Ah-" His face contorted in pain.

"Are you OK? Let me see."

"It's the thing. The port. It feels wrong, hot." He felt his ribs with shaking hands. He was sweating.

"Can I look?"

"Would he have let you look?"

"No. I don't know. In an emergency." It was weird, talking to Leo about Leo as if he wasn't right in front of her.

"Then look, I suppose."

He rested his head on the back of the chair and shut his eyes while she self consciously rolled back his t shirt. "It's ok," she said. "Needs cleaning up. I think you tore it out when Hobb's men came for Fred. Lucky you did or they'd have seen straight away who you are. -There's probably got a first aid kit here..."

"Now who's fearless," he said while she applied stinging antiseptic, gauze and a large dressing. "I can't even look at it."

She shrugged, and connected him to a charging point. "It's just part of you. Makes you unique."

"Huh. That and having no sodding clue what's going on."

"I'll make us a drink," said Mattie. She poked about by the light of her phone, looking for mugs which might not give them salmonella.

"Don't open the fridge," said Leo. "It will create too much light."

"He's cautious too."

"Not tonight, apparently. Apparently tonight he thought he would try to be invincible, and instead he's deleted himself." Leo's dark sarcasm.

"I thought I could fix it," Mattie said, facing the kettle. "Fix his mistake. I was convinced I was going to rock up and be a superhero."

Leo didn't answer, but when she brought him a mug of black Nescafe he said, "You saved his life. My life."

She shook her head. His life was his mind, and that seemed very un-saved.

"Come on," said Leo. "You drove a hundred miles with a secret backup, and did the hacker equivalent of dragging him from a burning building. That's got to be worth a few brownie points."

She tried and failed to smile.

Leo tilted his head up at her as she perched on the arm of the other chair. "The real question is, how the hell does such a loser know someone like you?"

"He's not a loser. He's brilliant. He's just not had much choice in life."

Leo shook his head. "And the mystery remains."

He was becoming very strange. "I want to try to remount your memories," Mattie said. "You're at full charge now."

"Don't synths take hours to charge up?"

"You're not a synth. Your get your physical energy from food."

"Ok. So. Remounting. What about it?" He sipped coffee. "I'd prefer not to be knocked out this time, if possible."

"I might have to root you," she said.

"Like a phone," said Leo.

"Like a phone."

He swallowed. But memories or not, he had always been interested in how things worked. "Tell me. Tell me in detail."

"You won't understand the code."

"No, but according to you I am a genius. So I should be able to follow."


	13. Chapter 13

Leo was woken by a warm hand pressed to his cheek. He jolted awake and saw Mattie's face close to his. She put her finger to her lips.

The only light was ambient streetlight glow, sodium orange that made everything blurry monochrome . He could not read whatever she mimed at him, only that it was urgent.

A moment later he saw why. Bright yellow light flickered outside the hut: torch beams.

Mattie took hold of his feet and lifted them, and he understood that she wanted him to get curled up. Sensible. Even a cursory glance into the hut would see a pair of feet under a chair.

Mattie lifted a cover onto him, some kind of dank tarpaulin. He flinched but let her cover him head to toe in the chair.

He heard her casting about for somewhere she could hide. But there was nowhere, he already knew. The tarp was it. You can't shelter behind a lawnmower.

If the seekers shone their torches into the hut Mattie would be discovered immediately. And for all her focus on him, Mattie had made it clear that she was also known to these people as someone significant.

Leo made a slight hiss through his teeth and beckoned Mattie over. He shoved the tarp aside.

Her face showed _What can you possibly suggest_ , but he pulled her into his lap, encouraging her head to lie on his chest. Her weight was on his sore ribs but he ignored that and cast the tarpaulin over both of them.

They waited like that, blind in the dark under the tarp.

She was small, her body readily nesting with his. How old was she? He found that by picturing her, a perfect image appeared in his mind, detailed and sharp: Mattie waking him up in the storage warehouse. Around nineteen, he thought. Of course he didn't know how old Leo Elster was either. Old enough to have caused all this trouble.

He didn't even knew what he looked like. Treats in store when he found a mirror. Assuming the sinister enemies didn't find him first.

A lost memory, in quite the literal sense. It had drained from his mind and gone off somewhere else. Now Mattie had tried to put it back on again but that hadn't worked. He would never feel the same about mislaid car keys again.

But ... how could he remember generic scenarios like losing car keys, yet nothing about the rest of it? His so-called family, the synths Being on the run. Mattie. It would be pretty hard to forget someone like Mattie.

She was shaking. He tightened his arms around her. _Don't move now_ , as the torch beams swept past the windows over their covered bodies.

A male voice. "All right, try the door."

"It's locked from the outside," said another man.

"I thought I saw a light on."

Leo froze. Mattie was tense against his chest. If it came to a struggle they would have little hope. She was five feet of engineering undergraduate and he could be taken out with a kick to the ribs. Or for permanent memory loss, a taser.

So don't let them get as far as a taser. His brain riffled through possibilities.

"My phone," he breathed into Mattie's ear. "In my pocket. Right side." She was basically sitting on it.

She moved her left hand to his jeans, found his belt, the edge of the pocket. The tarp crinkled. Leo held her tight, and they both stopped breathing, but the sound had been faint.

They each breathed out deliberately. Stay calm. Sudden movements will make noise. It was like telepathy, or data transfer, but instead of the information dotting and dashing down a cable, it was transmitted from her body to his, and back again. Leo could read the terror in her suppressed shivers, and pressed his cheek to her apple-scented hair. _It's ok. It's ok._

A second later he felt her hand in his jeans pocket, her fingers curling around his phone, then sliding it along his leg and away.

He had to hope that their non verbal communication did not extend to a sudden and strong inappropriate thought.

She lifted the phone. _Now what?_

He leaned back a tiny amount so that they could make eye contact. "Not me," he breathed. "You. You can send them something. A false message. Location data. Find their phone nearby and send something."

"That will take ages," she whispered.

"I bet this phone has some smart arse app that does half the work for you."

"I can send a general broadcast to all active points in a narrow radius," she said.

"Ok, do that. That sounds plausible."

"Scuse, sorry." She shifted in his lap so that she could work the phone. It took a few minutes, the voices and torch beams sometimes growing more distant as the men hunted around the cemetery, sometimes returning to check the hut again.

Mattie showed the message to Leo. Location data, tagged missing synths.

"Be more specific," he said. "Put Elster."

She added that then pressed _Send_.

Outside, a phone chimed. There was a flurry of activity, then footsteps, running away from the hut.

"Stay still," said Leo. "There may be someone left behind."

Mattie had been about to slip from his lap. He maintained his arms around her, his beard wiry against her forehead. It was hot under the tarp, and she was desperate for air. She was aware of extreme intimacy with a man who in essence was a total stranger. Leo was spiky and shy. This guy was a lot more touchy feely. Although he was Leo too.

Her head spun.

"Don't faint," whispered Leo. "I need your superpowers."

He made them wait ten minutes like that, all hot breath and shared heartbeats. Then at last he accepted that the men outside had gone.

"It's weird," Mattie said, wriggling free of the tarp, and Leo's arms. "Why are you being all nice?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

She was about to reply, some habitual snark, but in fact, it was an excellent question. Take away Leo's horrible past, and he was a man who cracked jokes, paid compliments, took danger in his stride and, clearly, found Mattie rather attractive.

Put Leo's past back and-?

"You're usually, he's usually - " What was a euphemism for arse?

Leo rolled his eyes at her hesitation. "I'm beginning to wonder how he's survived this long."

"He's clever," said Mattie.

Leo raised his eyebrows, deliberately looked all around at their refuge consisting of shovels and lawnmowers. "Is that a fact. Come on. I'll put the kettle on. You can hunt for Jaffa Cakes."

"Jaffa Cakes." She had to laugh.

"Oh yeah. The kind of people who put armchairs in their shed aren't going to waste time with the crap biscuits."

He leaned forward to stand, and winced, clutching his wounds. Mattie stuck out her hand and hauled him to his feet. He gave her a smile of thanks.

The backup file was ready to roll. Leo/Not Leo was at full charge and energy boosted with a couple of biscuits. But she was starting to think she wouldn't put him back.


	14. Chapter 14

"Just do it," he said. "I don't want to wait. I want to be me again. Whoever that is."

The hut was dark. Mattie had thrown her coat over her open laptop, and worked with her head under the cover, like a Victorian photographer. She raised her head now, and squinted at Leo through the dark. "You sure?"

He grimaced. "Yeah. I think. Even if he is an idiot."

"I've never done this before."

"You can though - I know you can Mattie."

"You don't know anything about me."

His gaze rested on her. "I know you care a lot about your friend and want him back. I'm just, just a digital gooseberry. So, as much as I'm afraid I'll turn back into a pumpkin, or in his case, a tosser, I trust you to try to do it. I know you won't deliberately hurt me. Or him."

"I-." His eyes were the same blue she'd always known, his wild black hair and deliberate five-day beard were all the Leo she had been talking to for the past year and more. But now his eyes were gentle and his body had forgotten the tension he always held close, his ward against danger. He was soft and unafraid, the first she'd ever seen that in him. "I hope it works. But - whatever you're made of, the parts of him who doesn't know his life story - I hope you stay as well." She swung away and set to work, unreeling cables and calling the enormous memory file to her screen. Leo paced among the lawnmowers until at last she turned back and said, "That's it."

Her hair fell forward as she crouched over the screen. Leo tentatively reached out and tucked a strand behind her ear.

She blinked up at him. His hand brushed her cheek as he drew away. His eyes were rather sad. "You ok?" She got to her feet and faced him.

"Yeah. Listen. You said you were my best friend."

"Well. You're mine. I don't know if-"

He waved a hand. "I mean, you weren't being euphemistic. You're not my sister or something."

"What? No. Mia and Niska are your sisters-"

"Ok good." He wrapped his right hand round the back of her head, leaned in and kissed her.

His mouth was warm and soft, and his hold on her clumsy but eager. She knew at once that he'd never kissed anyone, not like that. She put her hands on his shoulders and tried to make up for his inexperience, leading him, holding him, allowing him. The kiss lasted many heartbeats and then Leo drew back.

"Well," said Mattie.

He let go of her. "Sorry. That was too much. You've got a boyfriend."

"No I haven't." But even as she replied, his tone struck her. "Wait, what?"

He had spoken not as a question, or as some kind of fishing exercise to make her deny a rival - but as a fact. He'd said it like something he _knew_.

"I haven't got a boyfriend," said Mattie, and watched Leo's face. His eyes widened in surprise as well as relief. "You thought I did," she said. "But I've never said anything about it. Why did you say that?"

He tore at his hair with one hand. "I don't know. But - I just know you do."

"Leo. We've known each other a year. More than. And in all that time I have never told you about any boyfriend." Sure, there had been one, plus the tail end of Harun, so to speak. But it was not a topic she'd ever brought up with Leo.

They stared at each other. "The phone call," said Mattie at last. "You rang me a few weeks back. Interrupted me."

"There was someone there," said Leo. "A man."

"Yes." She was not going to justify her life to him. And that was not the point because if he knew that, then everything was going to be all right. "You remember it!" She grabbed his arm. "You remember it, Leo. That means your memories aren't lost. It means the transfer did work. The memories have just not...connected up right."

She scrambled for the laptop. "When was that...We were only on the phone for about two minutes. Why that memory?"

He closed his eyes. "You said Uh, hey. Right. Now's not a good time. Give that back. Sorry. Look, I'll message you in a bit OK." He opened his eyes again.

"OK," said Mattie. "That's it. But why that memory? Why has that one made it through and so much else got lost?"

Leo twisted his mouth. "I was upset," he said.

"I cut you off," she said. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Mnn."

"What?" There was something he was not telling her. "Spill it," she said.

"I was jealous," he said. "Pissed off." He shrugged. "I don't know why. If we never, if we were just friends."

"We - anyway, it's complicated."

Hope is hard to hide. He ducked his head.

Mattie stared at him. "That's it," she said slowly. "It's not the memory that's missing. The memories are fine. Clear. You can recall that perfectly." She pressed her hands all over her forehead, eyes, cheeks, but the conviction would not rub off. "I know what the interface is between digital and organic," she said.

He waited.

"It's emotion," said Mattie.


	15. Chapter 15

Mattie's phone vibrated. She jumped, and answered it in a low voice. "Hi Max."

"How's Leo?"

"Same."

"You should move again. Fred's nervous about any of us staying in the same place too long."

She closed her eyes. "OK." She took a breath, looked at Leo. He was watching her, eyes dark, and she knew that look: calculation. "Is Fred - really Fred?"

Max made a strange sound. It took Mattie a moment to understand that it was laughter. "Yes. And more."

"Just tell me," said Mattie. "Please." She could not take any more surprises tonight.

Max's voice held a smile. "He's Fred, he's definitely my brother. But he also has Leo's memories."

"Oh my god," said Mattie.

"Move now," said Max. "We'll meet you at the rendezvous. Do you remember?"

There was more anxiety than usual in his voice. Not surprising - the frailty of human memory had just been demonstrated. "I remember," she said.

Leo watched as she pocketed her phone. "A problem," he said.

"I don't know. But at least we know your memories are somewhere safe." As they prepared to leave, she told him what Max had said.

Leo was quiet as they trekked away from the cemetery and through side streets towards the canal. The rendezvous was under a motorway flyover, a place chosen by Leo for its lack of cameras. These days it was nearly impossible to walk down a British street without being on camera. Rendezvous points were invariably bleak as a result.

The kiss kept returning to Mattie's mind. Who had initiated that, Leo or memory-loss Leo? Did it matter? Was the real Leo here all along? Her thoughts buzzed.

"You Ok?" she asked him, to distract herself. They were in a street of ordinary three bed semis, nice front gardens, wheelie bins out ready for the bin men in the morning. It was totally unremarkable, except for Leo Elster walking beside her with a price on his head, or at least, the digital contents of his head.

"I'm trying to work out how to get me back." Leo shook his head. "I mean, restore me, not revenge. Though that might feature."

"If we can stir up emotions..." she said.

He stopped, took hold of her shoulders. "If this was a bad novel, I would sweep you into my arms and your passionate embrace would bring all my memories flooding back. The classic magic-sex trope. Is this a bad novel?"

"I've never read a novel like that."

"I read a lot of rubbish." His eyes were intense. "Not much else to do."

And there it was again. They both twigged the same moment. "You can remember what you've read," Mattie said.

Leo closed his eyes. "It's like trying to get back to a dream. It's there , but hard to grasp. But. I can. Some of it."

"Some is enough,"said Mattie. "You can remember books. Why? What's special about books?"

Leo quirked an eyebrow at her. "Books make you feel." Mattie's phone rang again. "Turn around," said Max. "Hobb is here. We're taking the vehicles, we'll call you. But run."

* * *

They turned tail and ran, the laptop in Mattie's rucksack banging heavily against her shoulder blades with every step. "The cameras," said Mattie in a gasp as they reached the main road once more.

"No choice," said Leo. "Which way's the High Street?"

"I don't know, I don't live here! That way." More of a glow. Shop windows.

"We want the opposite direction," said Leo.

"Wait," said Mattie as he tugged her in the darker direction. "We do want the High Street."

Her eyes were shining. She had a plan, clearly, but there was no time for explanations. Trust was needed, and it came easily. He had trusted her before, he thought. And so far tonight she had not let him down. "Ok," said Leo.

They ran, and heard shouts behind them. Hobb's men. "Come on," said Leo. Mattie was falling behind. He glanced at her. She only had little legs. He took hold of her hand.

One building dominated the High Street. It was from the great age of general education. Sandstone pillars at the entrance supported a noble portico, and a glass dome rose from the roof. The door boasted foot high gilt letters: Library.

"In here," said Mattie, and he realised her plan.

"We can't get in that way," said Leo. He glanced behind. "They'll see us in about ten seconds."

"Staff entrance," said Mattie.

They climbed over a railing and dived for the shelter of the unlit service area at the back of the library building. Giant metal cylinder bins loomed, and squat plastic wheelie bins. There was a door with a security plate. Mattie pushed it. Nothing. "Can you...hack it or something."

"I'm not James Bond," said Leo. He jerked his head at a plain painted door. "This one." He spread his hands over it, rattled it, then gave it a kick. The door vibrated forward enough for him to grab its edge and yank it outwards. "Fire exit," he said. "They basically want to open."

"You are James Bond," she said.

"I don't want to be. Come on," said Leo. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a dim linoleum stairwell. Plain concrete stairs led up four floors. "Upstairs. Into the stacks."

"Which section," Mattie asked.

"Bad novels," said Leo and Mattie laughed.


	16. Chapter 16

The library was warm, and dim. Streetlights gave a glow through the large upstairs windows, and there was some low-level lighting around the foyers. Mattie and Leo settled on the top floor, in a crevasse between Literature and Popular Fiction. They dumped the bag and coats on the wiry carpet, listening for pursuit, but the only sound was a faint ticking from the lights.

Leo pulled out titles he remembered. He turned pages, frowning, while Mattie leafed through his rejected ones.

The peace was broken by a strangled noise from Leo. Mattie looked up in alarm.

Leo drew a gagging breath, and coughed. He dropped the book he was holding and wrapped his hands around his throat.

Mattie was at his side in an instant. "What's wrong, are you ok?"

"Yeah."

He massaged his neck as heaves and retches shook his body. Mattie dived off, found a water fountain and brought him chill water in a paper cup. "Thanks."

"What happened?" she asked as he sat, head tipped back, taking wary sips from the cup.

He scowled. "Dust."

"Huh."

"Antiquated data storage," he said, and shot her a look from under his eyelashes, a suspicious, accusatory look.

"You frightened the life out of me," she said.

He looked away. "I'm ok." He blinked at the canyons of books. "Let's stop for a bit. Knackered."

Mattie had never known Leo request a break, or admit fatigue. "All right. Can I just check your charge? I don't want you getting low in case we need to move suddenly again."

"No, I can - Yeah. Cheers."

She opened her laptop, unwound the cable. "Here you go..." Kneeling, she leaned over and gently lifted Leo's t shirt. She peeled back the dressing she'd applied earlier, and clipped the power supply to his port. Sitting back on her haunches, she caught him watching, a raw, vulnerable expression on his face. She reached for his hand. "You will get used to it," she said.

"Not a lot of choice," said Leo.

"No, but..." There wasn't really a comforting answer. She squeezed his hand, and after a second his fingers closed around hers too, then let go.

"You're all good," she pronounced, checking the energy monitor on her screen. "Might as well stay on charge though."

"Tethered like a dog," he said.

"Like someone who doesn't want to go flat while they're running away from the bad guys," she said.

"Huh."

"If you're tired," she said, "then sleep."

Leo tilted her laptop screen so he could read the time. "We'll have to get out of here before it opens in the morning. You sleep too."

"Ok..."

Making a bed out of books might sound idyllic but it is not recommended in real life. Mattie tried to select a bit of carpet tile that might be more cushioned than the rest. There was a chill draught whistling under the shelves, basically at head level if you were going to try to sleep on the floor.

Leo stayed propped up, his back to the large format volumes on the lowest shelf.

Mattie put her head on her rucksack and immediately cricked her neck. "Oh my god." She sat up. "Your plan's better."

She found a space alongside Leo and tried again to get comfortable. "Are you OK?" she said. "I'm in agony and I haven't even got a hole in my side."

"I'm OK." Leo angled his eyes at her. "You really care about him."

She shrugged.

"I mean you love him."

"Like I would tell you." Thank God for years of teenage practice with the Face of Generic Ennui.

"Why not?"

Mattie rolled her eyes. "Because when the memories come back he will remember everything I said to you."

Leo gave a head-waggle. "He's going to know that we - that I kissed you," he said.

"Whatever." Mattie fixed her face in a careful sham of indifference. No recallling the past, his shy hand-holding and awkward hugs, his appalling sweetness in those moments when he let himself _stop._

"'Whatever _'_ ? There is definitely history between you two," Leo said.

"Maybe on my side," she said. "He's got a lot on his plate."

"He's a fool," said Leo.

She turned to him, half horrified, half amused. "He's not, he's the most incredible man I've ever -"

Leo grabbed her shoulders, pulled her to him and kissed her, slightly missing her mouth at first. He reached down with one hand and unclipped his power lead, then kissed her again, hesitant, but eager. His hands caressed her hair and his mouth sought hers with passion and promise.

"Whoa," said Mattie, easing away. She put her hand on his chest, held him gently off. "Really? Now?"

"Why not?"

"Oh, you know, bad guys, peril, plus we are supposed to be getting your memories back." His heart was pounding under her hand.

His eyes were intense. He gave a one shoulder shrug. "Or just make new ones." He leaned in for another kiss but she dodged.

"No," she said. "You're not him. It wouldn't be fair." She sighed, gave a rueful smile. "If he found out he'd be incandescent."

"So now it's cheating? What has he done to deserve this weird fidelity?"

She shook her head. "I can't explain it to you. But he, we, we're friends. That's all he wants and that's fine." Apart from his lips shy on her cheek, his hand hot in hers, his dry humour down the phone late at night when she was supposed to be asleep.

"Ok." Leo let go of her. "I guess you know what you're doing."

"God no, I have no clue," said Mattie. "And when your memories come back you'll see why."

He shook his head and smiled at her, and she at him. "I think he likes you too," said Leo, and then Mattie knew that she was not going to resist him.

She smoothed her hand from its place over his heart, up to his shoulder. "I feel like I'm talking direct to his subconscious," she said.

Leo faced her, touched her cheek. "You're talking to me."

"He'll know," she said, closing her eyes as his fingertips trailed over her face.

"Serve him right," said Leo.


	17. Chapter 17

She lay her head on his right shoulder, smoothed her right hand over his t shirt. "This is just lust," she said.

"Desire," said Leo.

They had kissed a long time, and now lay sprawled on her coat. His arms were strong around her, and he breathed slow and steady beneath her cheek.

"Same thing."

"No, it's not." He squinted down at her as she raised her head. "You can desire a person's mind as well as their body. It's bound together."

"Blimey, get you, Oprah."

"The body thing is kind of secondary," he said. "For me."

"I get that," she said.

"I'm not saying I don't want to -"

"I know." She rested her hand on his belt buckle. "Everyone's different," she said. "Just because popular culture says all blokes must be sex maniacs, doesn't make it true."

"I don't want the sex thing to interfere with the mind thing. Working together."

"Me neither. Anyway, I hardly ever see you. It's not like you're going to stop work and just spend all day in bed with me."

"Doesn't sound that bad actually."

"Tough. I have a dissertation to write." Her hand roved away from his belly, cupped the wound in his side.

"Does it bother you?" he said. She felt him hold in his breath.

"Yes," she said. "Not enough to stop me though. -Everybody has stuff. You know. Stuff with their bodies, stuff with people in their past." His breath eased out. She kissed his neck, tasted salt, and soap.

"I don't have much of a past," he said. His fingers explored the denim over her hip.

"I worked that out."

"I'm quite interested in getting one."

She levered herself up to look him in the eye. "OK."

"That's it? OK?" He found her free hand and clasped it, as if seeking confirmation, a positive connection.

"Yup."

"Oh. Ok."

* * *

Once the moment of decision had passed, that they were going to do this thing, everything changed. The cold draught and the scratchy, hard carpet tiles were disregarded as they kissed again and inched slowly closer and closer until they were nose to nose on the floor, with 823 English Literature looming over them. She shrugged off her big sweatshirt, and he began unbuckling his belt. She stopped him with a look, and did it for him.

He took the help, and leaned back luxuriating in the attention. She was a little slow over it, letting her hands rest on his waist, his hips, then on his thigh as she dragged the belt away.

His eyes were bright. Keeping eye contact, he unfastened his jeans button.

She bent over him, kissed his lips, and they lay pressed together, mouths joined as her hand slid down the zip. He was hot, and she felt his reaction to her touch, under her fingers, in his kiss.

Escaping jeans is rarely graceful. They giggled as he wrestled with his while still trying to hold onto her. When the denim finally skidded towards the skirting board, his hands were already in the small of her back, his fingers working into the waistband of her skinnies. "For comfort," he said, tugging on them.

"Comfort, right," and the giggling began again.

They shimmied under the cover of his shirt and there she was, half undressed and alone with him and everything was perfect.

She pried off his t shirt. The port was obvious even in the dim light. Fear bloomed in his eyes as he caught her looking. "It's OK," she said. "You are you. That's all."

"Are you sure it's not the difference that interests you?" His voice was heavy and casual, fake casual like throwing on a duffel coat over a tuxedo.

"I didn't know you were different when I met you," she said, diplomacy working at full throttle. She trailed her hand over the dark hair on his chest. "And then... I just liked you. It was too late."

She felt some of the tension sink from his body. She covered his heart with her hand. His life beat fast under her palm, his second life, his changed brain. She could not compare their joined pulses: her imperfect data capture, versus the fact that he was helplessly recording this. "I'm sure," she said.

He ducked his head, ran his hand over her ribs, her waist, then inside her t shirt, and over her belly, then breasts... He raised his eyes to hers again. "I'm sure too. - I can't believe how beautiful you are."

The compliment was nice but his touch, tentative under her t shirt, was infinitely better. She pulled his hand around to the front fastening and drew in a sharp breath as he slid off the bra. He caressed her through the soft jersey of the tee, watching her reaction, not stopping her hands which were likewise drinking in his chest, his skinny waist, his hips and groin.

"It's not fair," she said. "You can play back everything later."

"I think this," as underwear was thrown aside and he fitted himself against her, "will instantly take the number one spot."

She batted him. "Have you got...? I mean I have, somewhere, but I'd have to go and look..."

"That's good to know," he said, fishing a packet from his jeans pocket on the floor. "I mean that you don't expect..."

"Yeah, stop talking now."

"Good idea."

"What does it say about you that you did expect," she said, to break the ice as the cold plastic packet landed on the sweatshirt between them.

"That I'm a hopeless optimist."

"That's an oxymoron."

It struck her later as odd that he was prepared. Because that meant that the original Leo had been prepared. But now was not the time, and her slightly greater expertise was needed. "Can I..."

"God yes."

She draped herself usefully over him and kissed his lips. "I want you," she said. "Here with me right now." Her hand showed him her meaning, trembling because he was not just some boy, he was Leo. "I love you," she said, and was amazed as a tear fell from her eye.

His thumb brushed her cheek. "We can stop if you want."

"What? No!"

"Then..." He rolled her sideways, pulled up her tee and began kissing her breasts, one hand helping with that while the other slid along her thigh. In two seconds she had forgotten her tears and was saying, yes, now, more. He became fierce, but it was good, and where she thought she would need to lead, he matched her boldness with his own eager touch.

It didn't last long, for him, and he lay in her arms afterwards, not speaking, just breathing and staring at the shape of the lights on the ceiling, until at last he turned to her and kissed her, a reverent kiss like a thank you, like a full stop. She thought she was going to have to be blunt, but no, he manoeuvered to one side and used lips and fingers and hands until she was melting into him too, her kiss drowning his and her gasps drawing out a fresh reaction from his body.

After a while the room simmered down a little and became again just the cold hard floor of a public library. "Oh my God," she said. She turned her head to look at him and found him already gazing intently at her.

"I love you," he said.

She smiled, and began pulling on clothes, shivering as sweat began to dry. "I love you too," she said. "And him. But definitely you, since you're here."

"Mattie." He caught hold of her hand and kissed her fingers. "It's me."

She stared at him. His fingers entwined with hers suddenly made no sense, the connection they'd shared suddenly broken.

This was more difficult than he'd thought. "I have my memories," he said.

Her first instinct, as usual, was defensive snark. "So this was a bad novel all along? Magic sex, my secret superpower..." She freed her hand and began pulling her shirt sleeves the right way out, her hair falling over her face.

"No." He leaned forward, trying to catch her eye. "It was before. When I was reading. Your idea ... either it worked, or more likely, it just took longer than we expected for my system to run a full cycle of memory reattachement."

"So..." She was looking highly unimpressed. "You just pretended to be... him. No-memories you."

"I am him."

He watched her think about that as more clothes went on. He was not surprised when her next question was practical: she and he were alike in so many ways. Mattie looked him in the eye, as fearlessly as she had when they were skin to skin, and said, "So now what?"

It was a good point. He had thought and thought about it, for months, ever since she first let him know that she liked him. That miracle itself took a long time to process. Even after he was sure what he wanted, there was no obvious next step except the one they had just taken. And even after that, the question remained, and she had come straight to it: just like her. "Well," he said. He swallowed. "Whatever you want."

"Hmmn. Not to accuse you of a cop out, but..." Knowing it was him made things different, even though he was still half dressed. She felt a strange embarrassment, that Leo, her Leo, had witnessed all that... But then, he had initiated it too. "I'm not seeing a big white wedding, if that's what you're angling for."

That made him laugh, and she kissed him, knowing it was him, with all the tenderness of a first kiss, which she supposed it was. Then she said, "I know what's next."

He was right there too. "More work," he said. "Now we know some more of my Dad's secrets."

"Yes," she said. "Now we know the interface."

She reached for her jeans but was stopped by his arms around her waist.

"Since we're here," he said, and raised one eyebrow.

"You're on half charge," she said.

"Yeah?" said Leo. "You sure about that?"

"Oh my god," she said, "synth humour," but her laughter was smothered, willingly smothered, by his kiss.


	18. Chapter 18

"There's still the question of backups," Mattie said.

She, Leo and the the synths were in a roadside cafe, just a temporary cabin which had survived forty years serving fry-ups and instant coffee.

Fred sat beside Max. He pretended to sip his drink, but every second was glancing around, twitchy and desperate to be on the move. Leo's memories: creators of unease. If Mattie had doubted the amnesiac Leo, now she was certain. The man she loved was real, just kept behind walls of justifiable paranoia.

"Do it now," said Max.

"I only did you yesterday," said Leo.

"Not us," said Mia. "You."

"-Restored you," said Max. "Or you might lose this whole day and everything you've learned."

Was Max teasing Leo? Impossible to tell. But body language, even across a Formica table and chipped mugs, was hard to suppress. Mattie was very conscious of Leo three feet away and she knew he was alive to her too, the consequence of new intimacy.

"When we get back," said Leo.

"No, now," said Mattie. "We can't lose you again. Which brings me back to my point, where do we keep the backups, how do we keep you all safe?"

"Disabling remote access would be a start," said Leo.

"Funny. It saved your neck." She gave him a mock glower and saw his lightning smile in answer. Around the table, synth eyes flared green, noticing, recording. Of course, Leo was capturing it all too, every look, every word. Her chances of maintaining feminine mystique were zero. Lucky she didn't care.

"We keep backups for each other," said Mia. "Each of us carries the backup for another."

"That doubles the risk," said Fred. "Two lots of data which could be discovered."

"But it means we will always have each other in our hearts," said Mia. She took Leo's hand and squeezed it. "I'll take Leo's."

Oh, awkward. Mattie caught Leo's eye. Your mum, sharing your memories?

" _I'll_ take Leo's," said Max firmly. "And obviously all our memories are private." He smiled at Mattie. He definitely knew. Max, of all of them, was the person quickest to pick up on emotional drama.

"I need to check you out," said Leo to Fred. "We still don't know how my stuff got mounted to you." Leo's eyes were already glazing over, his thoughts racing away to the work ahead. Although their mission to restore Fred had been a success, there were many lessons to be learned from it, and Leo would be consumed with those lessons for the foreseeable future.

Mattie looked at her phone. "I ought to get back."

Leo raised his gaze to hers. All his defences were up, and Mattie could not read a message in his wary blue eyes. But it was fine. It was all fine.

"Talk later," she said, sliding out from behind the table. "It'll take me a while to get home, plus I need sleep." She gave them all a quick smile and escaped to the car park.

She was fumbling with her car keys when Leo caught up with her. "Hey."

"It's all right," she said. "I'll catch you later."

He touched her arm. "Not soon," he said, "But I'll come down and see you. Somewhere."

"Ok." She had one hand on the driver's door.

Leo reached over and took her other hand. "If you want."

"Yes."

"Ok then." He kissed her cheek and let go her hand.

"Leo. This is going to sound a bit strange but. I'm looking forward to talking to you again. Online. This has been... Good. Great, but intense."

Relief is hard to disguise. Leo grinned. "Yeah. I know what you mean." He paused. "You're braver than any of us, doing everything without a backup."

"It didn't feel brave."

"You saved me," he said. His voice dropped to a mutter as the others gathered around them. "And you made this better." He gestured between his chest and hers, the indicators of a shared connection.

She nodded. "I had help." She darted in and kissed his cheek, as if it was a year previously and as much as she would ever do - but the tingle that passed from his skin to hers belied the pretence. She scrambled into the car and made many unnecessary seatbelt and mirror adjustments.

The gathered synths waved at Mattie as she manoeuvred towards the exit. They shrank in her rear view mirror, Mia and Max, and Fred, finally together. But she was not looking at them, she was watching Leo, his smile, and she could see at last what it meant, now that she knew his heart.

That was the memory she would carry back to her room, the one she would cherish, however imperfectly. He was made of data, but also of flesh and blood. She was only half what he was, but still they had found a way to connect, and that had led them to friendship, and more, and finally to this next stage, whatever it would turn out to be. Leo had been lost and found and proven to be more than the sum of his memories.

Without the person, the memories had no purchase, no value. The point of difference between human and conscious synth disappeared here. Mattie's life was stored in her brain but also her heart, and so was Max's life, or Mia's, or Leo's.

Mattie smiled at this, at Leo vanishing behind her. Memory only meant anything when it was bound to emotion, and in this respect, at least, she was just like him.

THE END

Author's note: I hope you liked this fic about memory and love. Let me know what you thought, please! Next up is a Yuletide special...Which sort of follows the events of this series. More soon, -Sef


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